Walsh urges deal to save Herald pensions
Mayor Martin J. Walsh is urging Herald ownership to strike a deal to save workers’ pensions imperiled by the bankruptcy sale of the newspaper to Digital First Media.
“The ownership should take responsibility and make sure that no one loses their pension,” Walsh said yesterday during an interview on Boston Herald Radio. “You can’t lose your pension. Everyone gets their money out of the deal except for the people who’ve worked here for 35 years and lose their pensions. That’s not fair.”
The Herald declared bankruptcy Dec. 8 and was auctioned off Tuesday for $11.9 million to Denver-based Digital First Media in a five-hour proceeding at the newspaper’s bankruptcy lawyer’s office in Boston.
The Chapter 11 process lets the Herald shed its tens of millions of dollars owed to pension plans and severance payouts, leaving longtime workers with far less than owed, but giving the new owner a fresh start to bring the company’s financials back into the black. This year, the pension, severance and retirement payments to employees were estimated to reach $3.5 million, according to court papers. The pension, severance and retirement accounts had accrued nearly $25 million in liabilities when the company filed for bankruptcy.
There is federal insurance that will provide some coverage for some of the Herald’s pension plans, outgoing publisher Patrick J. Purcell noted yesterday. “There are all sort of rules and regulations and insurance policies to help in situations like this ... That’s where corporate law comes in and that’s where we are going to try to help everybody get the best (deal) they can from the insurance policy the government provides,” Purcell said.
Walsh said he feels “it’s important that we take care of the people that made this city and made news in this city.”
“The Herald’s people who work here deserve to be treated with respect, fairly, and the people that worked hard here to get a pension should be able to collect a pension,” he said.